A Tail of Two Kitties
by AlleyD8
Summary: Ever wonder what it's like to be one of Hellboy's Cats? Well here's your answer! Hope you like it! Please R&R! Complete!
1. A new home

A Tail of Two Kitties

Shadow:

It's a beautiful spring morning. The sun is just starting to come over the edge of the horizon. The birds are singing. The air is crisp with just the hint of the scent of flowers blooming somewhere in a window box. There are not very many cars today, so it must be one of those weekends, whatever those are. A day like this makes you glad to be alive, provided you're not a street cat. Unfortunately for me and my sister, that's just what we are. Mom went into heat a couple of weeks ago, and we haven't seen her since. So, now it's just the two of us trying to survive in the back alleys of some city or the next. I'm sure the humans have a name for it, but they've never bothered to tell it to us.

"Have you found anything yet?" I ask Sis.

"No. You?" she replies.

"Would I be asking you if I had?"

"Good point."

"It looks like these bins have been picked over pretty well. Let's try the next alley over. Maybe the toms have missed something this time."

"Or maybe a sweet, little old lady will be there and find us and take us home and feed us," Sis says dreamily.

I stopped rooting through a bin of garbage and turn and looked at my sister.

"Please don't start that again. No little old lady is going to be wandering around in a filthy, smelly back alley looking for a couple of filthy, smelly kittens to adopt. Now can we please get back to trying to find some breakfast?"

"It could happen," sulks Sis. "And I'm not smelly."

"Right. Would you please go check the street to make sure it's safe to go into the next alley?"

"Okay, it's clear. Come on," says Sis as her black and orange tail disappears around the corner.

"Hey, wait up!" I high tail it after her.

"Why did you take off like that?" I ask her when I catch up.

"Why do you have to be such a kill joy? Someone could find us and want to take us home with them."

"Listen, the only little old ladies that are coming into the alleys are going to be just like us. Homeless. There's no point in..." I finally notice the alley sis has led us into.

"Uh, Sis. This alley doesn't go anywhere."

"Yeah, so?" she growls.

"I don't want to go in there. What if a tom's in there and he comes after us? There's no way out."

"You're such a kill joy. Nothing's going to happen."

I could feel my tail curl up between my legs and flatten against my belly and my ears go flat.

"Sis, I really don't like this."

"What's the matter, Sis? Afraid the boogey man is going to get you?" she hisses at me. Then she starts stalking toward me with her ears flat,

"Or maybe some monster's going to jump out of a garbage bin and eat you all up for breakfast." By the time I realize what's she's doing, she's backed me half way down the dead end alley.

"Come on, Sis, this isn't funny. Let's go someplace else to find..."

I never finish my sentence because at that precise moment there's an inhuman scream. However, it's not a scream made by any animal I've ever heard. Then I hear crashing and yelling and feet running. Big feet, a lot of them and they're heading straight for us. Then the thing that must have made the scream comes careening around the corner and crashes into one of the garbage bins, crushing it. I can feel every muscle in my body freeze in fear. Sis puffs up into slightly bigger orange, black and white ball of fur between me and that thing and starts hissing and spitting.

The thing is big, really big. It has four legs and a tail, and that's pretty much where the similarities end between it and us. It has horns, no fur and a big mouth with impossibly big teeth and a lot of drool coming out of it. Of the four legs it has, it's only using three at the moment, since one of the front ones is pretty badly mangled. It picks itself up and shakes its head. Then it sees us.

I try to disappear into the pavement, Sis puffs up a little bigger, and that thing crouches down like it's about to pounce. Then it pounces, I close my eyes and Sis lets out a huge hiss. All of a sudden, the thing lets out a howl of rage as the ground shakes from it falling short of its goal. I open my eyes and see that the thing is laying flat on the ground and the biggest person I've ever seen in my very short life is holding onto its tail.

He's big and red and he has these two round things on his forehead. His right hand looks like it's made of the same stuff that I'm trying to disappear into. He starts trying to back up, dragging that thing with him. That's when I notice his feet. I saw someone take their pet pig for a walk once, and that's what his feet remind me of. And to top it all off, it looks like he has a tail. Meanwhile, the thing has dug its talons into the ground and is actually leaving gouges in the pavement as its being dragged backwards.

"Abe! Get the kittens!" the big red guy yells in a gravelly voice.

"What kittens?" asks someone, just around the corner.

"Those kittens," says the big guy again as he nods towards us.

A bald, blue head pops around the corner and looks at us. He's wearing strange glasses and has the biggest collar I've ever seen on. This must be Abe.

"Shouldn't we take care of...?"

"I'll take care of Ugly, you get the kittens."

"Manning's not going to like this."

"To hell with Manning, just get the kittens!"

Abe sighs and comes all the way around the corner. His arms and legs are also blue and he seems to have fins on them. He's much thinner than the red guy, and a little shorter. He also smells a little bit like fish.

As he comes even with the thing's head, it turns and snaps at him. It's as if Abe knew that the thing was going to try and bite his legs off. With a move that would have made me envious if I hadn't been terrified, he simply made the most graceful leap out of the way of those snapping teeth.

That's when Sis decides to make her move. While that huge head is turned toward Abe, she jumps at the things throat and starts kicking, scratching and biting for all she's worth. The thing removes his front talons from the pavement and tries to grab her. But by letting go of the pavement allows the big red guy to drag it out of the alley and into the street. He then reaches down and plucks Sis off of the things throat before she can get hurt and then stuffs her inside the large coat he is wearing.

As I watch all of this in fascinated horror, Abe walks up to me. I realize what he's about to do to late. He grabs me and picks me up. I may be small, but I can defend myself when I have to. I turn and start biting and scratching for all I'm worth. Fortunately for this guy, he's wearing heavy gloves.

BANG!!!

Now I've heard a lot of loud noises in my life, but that, was by far, the loudest. I stop kicking and stare at the big red guy with my teeth and claws still dug deep into the glove. In his left hand is a huge gun; at his feet is the thing with a big hole in its head. The thing isn't moving anymore. The red guy is nudging the thing with his foot while Abe walks up to him.

"Here. I believe you wanted this," says Abe. He hands me over to the red guy, glove and all and walks away.

With surprising gentleness for a guy his size, he takes me and the glove and carefully puts us into the same pocket as Sis. Then he starts walking somewhere calling after Abe.

"Did you see me? Wasn't that great?" says Sis, all but jumping on me.

I finally spit the glove out of my mouth and stare at her.

"Are you out of your mind?" I ask her. "That thing could have squashed you flat!"

"But it didn't," she gloats. "And now we're going home with someone."

"He's not exactly a little old lady."

The excitement is starting to wear off and the swaying motion of his walk and the warmth of the pocket are starting to get to me. I yawn.

"No, but at least we'll have a home," she says as she lets off an even larger yawn.

"But what if..." I start.

"Oh, stop being such a kill joy," she says as she repositions herself and closes her eyes. She then opens one eye. "Where'd you get the glove?"

"It's from Abe," I yawn hardly keeping my eyes open.

"He gave it to me."

"Oh," says Sis and she closes her eye again. Sleeping sounds good, so I cuddle up to my new glove and join her.


	2. New Names

(A/N)-Sorry I forgot to put this in here last time. First time poster, you know how it is. This story is co-written by me and a friend on the Hellboy Message Board. The same place as the story Hellboy's Girls: New Blood (which I titled BTW). Ok enough bragging, here are some tips if you get confused with the story.

1. I put the point of view at the top of the chapter because we switch POV each chapter.

2. The two main the characters in this story are based on the authors, I'm Alley, my friend is Shadow. ( Its a play on our board names). Ok enough of that, now for the disclaimer.

DISCLAIMER: We do not own Hellboy, or any of the other characters related to Hellboy.

Enjoy the rest of the story (and don't worry I won't repeat this, on every chapter, OK)

Chapter2

Alley:

I slowly opened my eyes. I was lying in a small basket with my sister. She was still asleep, and clutching that glove Abe gave her. When I looked around, I had never seen so many cat's in my life! Sure we saw the occasional tom cat, but Mom told us to stay away from them, so we did. It never occurred to me that if we were taken home that there would be other cats. I just always liked the idea of being feed every day and being able to explore a real live house, and also to see what kind of mischief I could get into. However this was not exactly what I had in mind. So, I went on the defensive.

"Wake up!" I said to my sleeping sister.

"Wa-What happened?" she said sleepily.

It was then that she saw them. I could see her tensing up. So did the other cats, but still they kept there distance.

"Why aren't they trying to eat us or something?" I asked

"How should I know? What do I look like? A mind reader?" she growled at me.

Just then a long, slender, gray and white tabby walked up to us. I puffed up a tiny bit, standing between the tabby and my sister. Right before the tabby could do or say anything, the huge metal door across the room opened and all the cats went running towards it.

We both relaxed a bit. The person who had opened the door was none other than that huge red guy who put us in his pocket. He had another person with him, and from what I could tell, he was human.

"You took in two more strays?" said the human.

"Yeah, so, what was I suppose to do Myers, leave them there to get killed by ugly?" said the red man irritability

"No, Hellboy, but you know how much Manning hates cats and complains about the cost of cat food," said who I suppose was Myers.

"Hey it's not my fault he's allergic to them," said who I suppose was

Hellboy.

I could tell they were talking about us, which made me tense up again. At that moment he saw me.

"See, there they are Myers. Its ok I won't hurt you" Said Hellboy picking me up.

"This one actually helped me out there, didn't you little guy----I mean girl"

he said just as I rolled onto my back playing with his big stone thumb. This guy wasn't so bad after all.

"WOW you really are a wild little Alley cat aren't you? I think that's I'll call you... Alley," said Hellboy smiling.

"Well what about that one?" said Myers pointing at my sister who was now in the shadows under the table.

"Well since she's a black cat and seems to blend right in with the shadows,

I'll call you Shadow." said Hellboy also picking up my sister.

"Well what do you girls think of your new names?" Hellboy asked putting both of us into his huge stone right hand.

I looked at my sister. She looked at me. And at the same time we meowed and purred our approval.


	3. Bath time

Chapter 3

Shadow:

"Well, now that you two have names," says Hellboy, "it's time that you two got a bath. Here, Myers, hold them while I get their bath ready."

He hands us over to the human, and walks through a side door I hadn't noticed before. Myers puts us back in the basket we woke up in and leaves muttering something about Manning and hitting the roof. I immediately go to my glove and cuddle up with it and look around the room.

The room is mostly in the dark and there are no windows. There's a wall of TVs, an unmade bed in the middle of the room, a table with some chairs around it off to the side, and candy wrappers are all over the floor. I can hear water running on the far side of the door Hellboy went through.

"Where do you think he went?" asks Alley. "Why does he have to get ready for our bath? How's he going to wash us with that tongue?"

"I don't know," I answer. "Why is there water running?"

"I don't know," she says. "Isn't this great? No more looking for food, no more getting wet from the rain, and a nice soft bed to sleep in. Not to mention all the mischief we can get into."

Luckily, the other cats are still keeping their distance, but they are watching us. I start kneading my glove nervously. A short time later I hear the water stop and Hellboy comes back through the door.

"Hey, Myers, bring the kittens..." He looks around for Myers. He doesn't look very happy about the lack of Myers in the room. He spots us in our basket, and starts heading for us.

"Ok, girls, it is bath time," he says as he picks us up. I clutch my glove instinctively. He starts heading for the side door again.

"So, how do you think he's going to be able to wash us with that tongue?" ask Alley again.

Before I can say anything, we're through the door. The light in here is dazzling after being in that dark room. I blink several times, and notice that the air is a bit humid and I can smell water. This room has what might have been white walls at one time, but now they're a dingy gray. There's a funny shaped chair that seems to be made out of what looks to be some sort of smooth stone. It's the same color as the walls. There are also two basins with holes in the bottom of each of them also of the same smooth stone. The small one is empty, but the big one has a couple of inches of water in it.

Kneeling down next to the basin with the water in it, Hellboy transfers us to his right hand and says, "You won't need that." He takes away my glove.

"Hey!" I mew at him, trying to get my glove back.

Just then, he dumps Alley and me into the water.

"HEY!" I screech at him.

He starts to quickly dump more water on us.

"STOP THAT!" I yowl at him. "AAHHH! HE'S TRYING TO DROWN US!"

I try to climb up the sides of the basin to get out, but there are no cracks to get my claws into. I turn to get help from Alley, but she's busy chasing bubbles in the water.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" I scream at her.

"HAVE YOU COMPLETELY LOST YOUR MIND!?"

"This is fun," she says as she pounces on a particularly large bubble.

At that moment, Hellboy reaches into the basin with his right hand. This basin may not have any cracks in it, but his hand sure does. I'm up his arm before he can blink. At the top of the stone part of his arm, I leap for freedom over his shoulder.

"Hey, you. Come back here," he yells grabbing for me. In mid leap, he catches me, but he over balances and lands flat on his back.

Just then there's a flash of light and a whirring noise. I blink and look up at a human woman with long black hair standing in the doorway. She's holding some weird machine that seems to be sticking its tongue out at us. She's laughing.

"You better plan on burning that," growls Hellboy as he gets up off the floor and dumps me back in the water.

"Not a chance," she laughs at him. "I ran into John in the hallway and he told me what you were about to do. I couldn't resist."

"Great," he mutters as he grabs a bottle and pours what seems to be about half of it onto me. He quickly rubs this stuff into my fur, making even more bubbles for Alley to chase. She's having a great time running around the basin. He's careful to keep his right hand out of my reach this time.

"LET ME OUT OF HEEEEERRREEE!!" I howl.

"Boy that one's loud," says the woman.

"I WANT OUT!!"

"Yeah, this one's Shadow," says Hellboy as he dumps more water on me.

"The other one is Alley. Liz, grab a towel would you? Shadow's done."

Hellboy picks me up and hands me over to Liz who wraps me in a towel.

She starts rubbing me over with the towel. The water still in my fur starts to cool and I start to shiver. Suddenly, the towel starts to get warm and to dry out. Then I start to get warm and dry out. I just look up at her and purr.

A moment later, Hellboy stands up with Alley wrapped in a towel. His front is completely soaked.

"Shadow was easier," he grumbles as he hands Alley to Liz while taking me from her.

"How so?" Liz asks. I can see steam starting to rise from the towel.

"Alley was so busy playing in the water, it was hard to catch her long enough to get the soap on her," he says as he takes me out of the still warm towel and starts drying himself with it. "And you know what? I think she actually wanted to splash water on me."

Liz chuckles as she takes Alley out of the towel and hands her to Hellboy. He holds both of us in his left hand and picks up my glove in the other hand. I try to get my glove back, but it's to far away.

They walk back into the dark room. Abe is waiting there.

"Hey, Abe. What's up?" asks Hellboy.

"I've just finished my report," answers Abe as he walks up to us and holds his hand out. There's webbing between his blue fingers.

"You might want to do the same soon. Manning is already quite upset. May I have my glove back, please?"

"Sure," says Hellboy as he hands my glove to Abe.

"Hey!" I say, "That's mine!"

I make a leap for it. But before I can grab my glove, Abe grabs me. He hands me to Hellboy and takes my glove and leaves.

"That was mine," I whine at Abe's retreating back. I turn to Hellboy.

"Make him give it back."

"You know," he says to Liz, "I think she liked that glove."

He drops us into our basket and goes out the big door again with Liz following.

"You really did like that glove, didn't you, sis?" asks Alley.

"Yeah," I say, moping.

"Then what say we get it back?" says Alley with a gleam in her eye.


	4. A new friend

Disclaimer: We do not own Hellboy. Please don't sue! I need my money for more HB comics!

Chapter 4

Alley:

I start to form a plan in my head on how to escape and get my sister's glove back. This is going to be one of my greatest ideas yet. One problem though, we will have to wait until Hellboy gets back to start it. _Oh well,_ I think, _might as well explore around first._ But before we get a chance to do anything, the same tabby cat from before walks up to us. I start to tense up again, but only a little this time.

"Hi, I see you've had your honorary 'Welcome' bath," says the tabby

"That was a bath?" I ask, looking at her strangely.

"Yep, it sure was. Oh and by the way, you can relax you now." She says looking at my sister. "We won't bite...Much!" She adds jokingly.

"Oh sorry about that, its just we've never seen so many other cats in one place before," says Shadow from behind me.

"That's Ok. How about some lunch? Liz brought some cat food in while you two were taking your bath," says the tabby. She walks towards the huge truck bed, then stops and waits for us to follow.

I had forgotten that we never did find breakfast this morning because of all the excitement. But now my stomach is quite literally growling at me.

"What do you think?" asks Shadow.

"Think I'm hungry, that's what I think," I answer and start to follow the tabby.

"That's not what I meant!" She says rolling her eyes, but she follows as well.

Once we are under the truck bed, we start eating what looks like small pebbles. However, they sure are tasty pebbles and it is better than garbage that's for sure. While we are eating I tell our new friend, whose name we find out is Misty, all about our adventure earlier today. She doesn't seem surprised.

"He does that all the time. That's his job," Misty says calmly

I am about to say something, but just then the big metal door opens and in comes Hellboy, who has forgotten his coat. It is time to act. Hellboy hurryingly comes in mumbling about Manning again. (I will have to meet this Manning person sometime. He sounds interesting.) Hellboy has laid his coat on the corner of the bed. It is so long that it touches the floor. Now is our chance. I start to crawl into one of the pockets when Shadow stops me.

"Are you crazy? What are you doing!?" Shadow asks, looking worried.

"Getting into this big pocket, what does it look like?" I say sarcastically.

"But what if we get lost or caught or something?" She says nervously.

"Oh stop being such a kill joy and get in. And hurry it up!" I say, seeing my window of opportunity closing every second.

"But what if..." 

"Look, do you want to get your glove back or not?!" I interrupt, impatiently

"Yes"

"Then get in already," I hiss.

Just as Hellboy picks up his coat, Shadow jumps in. I hope that he will not feel the extra weight in his pocket. As he walks out the door into the hallway I poke my head over the top of the pocket. It has worked. Shadow's glove here we come!


	5. The glove mission

Chapter 5

Shadow:

Hellboy swings his coat over his shoulder and walks down a hallway with strange glass cases and even stranger things in those cases. His hooves click along the tile floor.

"Ok, we're out of the room. Now what?" I quietly ask Alley.

"We'll just have to wait and see where he goes," says Alley. "Then, when he puts the coat down, we'll get out."

"If we end up out on the streets again because of this," I hiss at her, "I will box your ears until you look like a dog."

"Will you stop being a kill joy?" she hisses back. "We'll be fine. We just have to wait until he puts the coat down."

Hellboy is still carrying the coat over his shoulder when he reaches a large room. From what I can see of the room it is carpeted, has a floor to ceiling bookcase along an entire wall, some stuffed chairs, a desk, a spiral staircase and a shallow metal basin with a fire burning in it. 

"Humph," I grunt as we're dropped, unceremoniously, onto one of the chairs. Alley and I start struggling to get out of the pocket and out from under the coat, hoping that no one will notice the coat moving on its own. We finally find our way out from under all that material and peek out. There's another human man here. He's mostly bald, older than the other two humans we've seen and has a self important air about him.

"Ok, Manning," says Hellboy, "what's the scoop?"

"The scientists have just completed the autopsy on the creature you brought in," says Manning. "That thing you shot was a dog."

"Excuse me?" asks Hellboy. "That thing was anything but a dog." 

"Actually," Abe says, "it used to be a dog. Something happened to transform it."

Abe's voice sounds like its coming from several different directions at once. It also sounds like he's talking through a metal tube. I carefully crawl out from under the coat the rest of the way trying to see him. I'm hoping we can follow him until he puts my glove down, then we can get it back. 

What I see is quite a shock. The wall opposite of the bookcase is completely made of glass. It looks into another room that is completely filled with water. In that room, floating near the glass is Abe. All he's wearing now is shorts. The collar is gone. He's all blue and there are gills on the sides of his neck. I'm so shocked that I just sit there and stare. Hellboy's voice wakes me out of my trance.

"Would someone please explain this to me?" he asks testily.

I quickly run and hide in a shadowy corner of the room. Alley soon joins me.

"According to my research," explains Abe, "there is a certain demon that whoever partakes of its flesh will gain the aspect of the demon."

"In English?" growls Hellboy.

"What it means," says Manning with a rather smug attitude, "is that if someone eats part of this demon, they become a demon themselves."

"So this dog just went up to this demon and took a chunk out of him?" asks Hellboy. 

"Not exactly," replies Manning. "I've sent some agents out to investigate. What they've come back with is that there is an old house out in the forest not far from where you found that thing. Hikers have reported hearing strange things going on there. We need you to go investigate further."

"Sounds like fun," says Hellboy. He picks up his coat as if to leave. 

"Wait, Hellboy," says Manning, "there's more. There were bite marks on the corpse when the scientists went in to do the autopsy. Abe says that one of the kittens you found attacked it. I think one of your new cats may be infected."

"WHAT!?" yells Hellboy. He takes off back up the hallway we just came through, Manning close behind him.

I stare at Alley. She just looks back at me and says, "What?"

"Alley," I quietly answer her, "they think you're going to turn into a demon." 

"No I'm not," snorts Alley. "What's a demon?" 

"It's that thing that we saw in the alley," I remind her.

"Oh," she says. "Well, I didn't eat any of that thing. I never even broke the skin."

"That's good," I breath a sigh of relief. "Now where do you suppose Abe hid my glove?"


	6. Alley vs The demon rat!

Chapter 6

Alley:

_Let's see here_, I think as I look around the room. Then I spot the staircase.

"Let's try the stairs," I say.

"Ok," replies Shadow, and we go up stairs.

As we make our way up the stairs, the thought occurs to me, _if I'm not the demon, than who is? Whoever he is, he's not going to get away with framing me, that's for sure._ I am wondering this as we reach the top and go into the first room. But my mind is soon cleared because in this room is a giant pool full of water!

"I've never seen so much water in all my life!" I exclaim looking into the crystal clear blue water.

"Hey! Look, I see my glove!" Shadow says excitedly. Looking over to the other side of the pool, I see it too. It's with all of Abe's other cloths, including his collar, black shirt, and other glove, sitting on a chair neatly folded. There's a table with a stack of towels next to it.

"I wonder were that blue dude is anyway?" I ask only half interested. As my sister runs over to get her glove, a shimmer catches my eye. I look down but see nothing. Then I look up at my sister who is facing me at the other end of the tank, trying to decide which glove is hers. 

"OK, you've got your glove, now lets..." I start to say, and then I see it right behind Shadow. Something that might have been a sewer rat at one time is right behind Shadow ready to attack! It's lost all of its hair and it now has horns. It's about the same size as the two of us combined. This must the guy that chewed on the demon.

"Look out!!!" I screech, running toward her.

"Look out for what?" She says looking around. Then she turns to look behind her. I'm halfway to her when all of a sudden it attacks. It lunges toward her, teeth bared. Being as fast and as smart as me, she dodges the attack, but in doing so she loses her balance and falls into the water. I get there one second to late. I puff myself up and face the rat. I start hissing, spiting, and growling for all I'm worth, scratching it, but making sure not to bite. Finally after what seems like forever it finally gives up and runs away, scurrying into the darkness.

After the battle with the rat, I look at the water. I hang my head and start crying in a high pitched squeal. "My sister, how can this be? She can't be dead. It's my entire fault, if I had gotten here faster..."

"What's all this noise about?" Asks a bubbly voice. I look up and see Abe, with only his swim trunks on, sitting on the edge of the tank.

"There's no need to cry little one," says Abe.

I just look at him and continue to cry my pain.

"It's all right," says Abe. "Your sister's not dead." He gets up and heads to the table.

I look up, not even believing Abe's words. Then I see my sister alive and wet on the other side of where he had been sitting. I run over to her to see if she's all right.

"I thought you were dead." I say, relief flowing over me.

"I thought I was too, until Abe saved me," says Shadow looking at me, shivering. "That water is a lot colder than the bath we got earlier."

It is then that I remembered that Abe is still there. I look at him for a moment, reviewing the last few moments in my head, and then I realize he knew what I was upset about. I stand there shocked, until the sound of Hellboy bursting into the room wakes me from my trance.

"What on earth is going on in here, and why is that demon cat in here?!" says Manning from behind Hellboy.

"Calm yourself Manning, everything is under control," says Abe calmly. "And the kitten is not the demon. A rat is, and it has escaped." Says Abe, as he starts to explain everything that has happened here. As he is explaining, he takes a towel from the stack and starts drying off Shadow.

After Abe explains everything, he brings us down the staircase with him and puts us on a little table. He goes to get some bandages for me since I have taken some damage while I was battling that rat.

Once Abe has returned, he and Hellboy carefully bandage me up. Manning was sneezing a lot, so he left before Abe gets back.

"How did you know what Alley was upset about?" asks Hellboy.

"I can read them," explains Abe. "But not like I can with humans, just strong emotions and some images."

"Oh, Ok. Well, let's get you two off to bed, we've had a long, exciting, day haven't we." says Hellboy, gently picking us up into his huge right hand. Just as we are about to leave, Abe stops us.

"Hold on, Red," Abe says. He points to Shadow and continues, "This one is unhappy. It's like she's lost something."

He stands there with his head cocked staring at Shadow for a moment. Shadow looks at him with big sad eyes and gives a little mew.

"Wait here one moment, I have to get something" says Abe as he runs up the staircase. A moment later he comes back with something in his hand. It's his gloves! He gives one to Shadow, who looks very happy to have it back and one to me.

"I think you two deserve these." says Abe as Shadow snatches hers and starts nuzzling it. I start rubbing my head against his hand and purring and Shadow joins me a second later.

Abe smiles and says, "You're welcome."


	7. Shadow's special Moment

Chapter 7

Shadow:

I slowly wake up and stretch. I'm still curled up with my glove in the basket with Alley. Alley's glove is off to one side. I guess she's not as interested in her glove as I am with mine. My tummy suddenly growls. I didn't eat before going to sleep. I was to tired when we got back to the room. I look around and notice Hellboy doesn't seem to be here. In fact, I seem to be the only one awake. I carefully get up so as not to disturb Alley and go to the food bowls. As I finish eating, the big door opens and Hellboy comes in. He looks very tired. He comes up to the bed and falls down onto it face first. The bed shakes from the force of his weight, and for a second I think it's going to collapse on me. But it holds and I can hear Hellboy repositioning himself on the bed. I crawl out from under the bed, and look up at him. He's rolled over onto his back now, and he's staring at the ceiling with his bright yellow eyes. I jump up onto the bed. I go over to him and start rubbing my head on his left hand. He jumps, and then notices it's only me. He starts scratching my ears.

"I've fought demons of every size, shape and color," he says quietly. "I've taken on zombies, vampires, ghosts and even gods and won. Yet, I can't find one stupid rat."

He lets his hand drop. After a few moments, I realize he's not going to scratch my ears any more. He's staring at the ceiling again. I climb up onto him and sit in the middle of his chest. I look at him. He looks at me. I realize that I'm still tired, my belly is full and he's really warm. I curl up into a ball right where I am and start purring myself to sleep. I feel him stroke my fur a few times. He starts to relax underneath me. And just as I'm drifting off to sleep, I hear him murmur, "And Manning wonders why I like you guys."

---

Next thing I know, I'm being launched through the air as Hellboy suddenly sits up, yelling. Someone catches me in mid-air. I recognize the blue arm attached to the hand holding me, and I quickly pull my claws back in. I can feel my heart pounding in my chest. I'm not sure how long I've slept, but most everyone is awake now, including Alley. She's still in our basket staring at us.

"Geez, Abe," growls Hellboy, "you trying to get clocked?"

"I tried calling your name, but you didn't respond." Abe explains, "So I had to shake you awake."

"Any luck finding that rat?" asks Hellboy. 

"I'm afraid not," says Abe. "It's your turn to try and find it. I'm going back to my tank and getting some rest." 

"How long was I asleep?"

"Four hours." 

"Man, that's not long enough. I need my beauty sleep," grumbles Hellboy as he yawns and stretches.

Abe chuckles as he hands me back. He then turns and leaves without another word. 

Hellboy puts me back in my basket and then heads for the side door. I see a light go on under the door, and then I hear water running.

"What was that all about?" asks Alley. "And why were you up there?"

"I think they're trying to find that demon rat we saw yesterday," I explain. "It sounds like they haven't had any luck."

Myers walks in at that moment pushing a cart full of food, looking very tired. He puts several platters of food on the table. Then he puts several bowls of kibble on the floor, taking away the empty bowls. All the cats head for the bowls at once. Alley and I try to get in there, but there are just too many cats and not enough bowls.

"Hey, make room for the kittens," we hear Misty growl as she bops a brown tabby on the head. "Come on you two, I can't hold them off forever."

We quickly head for the bowl that Misty has cleared for us.

"Thanks," we both say as we start eating.

"You're welcome," she purrs as she sits and watches', making sure no one bothers us. 

After a few minutes, we're full. So we go back to our basket and start giving ourselves baths. Alley's having a hard time with those bandages on her. Her tongue keeps getting stuck in the material.

Alley finally gives up trying to wash herself and says, "You know, since they can't seem to find that rat, maybe we should help."

I stop mid-lick and stare at her. I put my tongue back in my mouth, narrow my eyes and say, "What exactly did you have in mind?"

"We'll go out and help them look for the rat," says Alley excitedly.

"How do you suggest we get out?" I ask her sarcastically. "Hellboy's coat isn't here to crawl into this time."

Just then, Hellboy comes out the side door looking a little bit more awake. He sees the food on the table and says, "Mmm, pamcakes." He grabs a large hand full and starts eating.

"Come on," says Alley jumping out of the basket. "I have an idea."

I follow her with a sinking feeling in my stomach. She runs and hides behind a piece of furniture close to the door. I come up next to her and hiss in her ear, "Ok, now what?"

"We wait until he goes out and then we follow," she hisses back.

"Did that rat hit you on the head yesterday?"

Hellboy finishes his breakfast, and heads for the door. Alley tenses up. Just as Hellboy starts closing the door, that's when Alley makes her break for it, with me on her tail. We quickly hide behind one of the glass cases as Hellboy heads down a different hallway, and around the corner.

"Ok, Alley," I say. "Now what?"


	8. The maze of Hallways

Chapter 8

Alley:

"Let's go this way," I say as I look down the opposite hallway that Hellboy has just gone down.

"Where do we look first? I have a feeling this place is huge," Shadow says looking worried, as she looks at my bandages.

"Well, let's see, if you were a demon rat, where would you go?" I ask grinning as Shadow makes a face like she has something sour in her mouth.

"I really don't want to know!" Shadow says, still making the face. 

"Come on, I'm serious, Shadow," I say, as I stop to scratch my bandages in front of one of the glass cases. This one features a big pointy object and something in a jar.

"OK fine, hmmm. I know, how about the kitchen? There were a lot of rats around that old abandoned restaurant that we saw before," Shadow suggests.

"Perfect! Let's go!" I exclaim, getting ready to go when Shadow stops me.

"Wait, how do we find the kitchen?" Shadow asks, looking around.

"Simple, we follow our noses!" I say rolling my eyes.

I put my nose to the floor. Our sense of smell is not as good as a blood hounds, but it is pretty darn close. I can smell many things, the people near by, the other animals in the building, and then finally the pleasant scent of food.

"I've got the scent. Let's go." I say, as I limp down the hallway.

As we go down the hallway, we see many people who are to busy to notice two kittens. We're walking against the wall, so as not to be trampled. We learned that trick while living on the streets. Some people are holding strange objects, some are in suits, and some are in regular clothes. There are even some who are pushing empty carts.

At the end of this strange maze of hallways we come to a dead end in a small room with a very low ceiling. This confuses me because I can still smell food coming from somewhere. I pick up my head and sniff the air. It's coming from above! But how do we get up there?

Just as I'm thinking this, one of the busy people we passed before with an empty cart, steps onto the floor beside us. Suddenly, the wall behind us closes. All of a sudden the floor starts moving upward! Just as suddenly as it started, it stops. The wall opens up again. There's another hallway here ending in a pair of big metal doors a little ways away. The cart starts to move forward towards the doors. This time we hitch a ride because I catch the scent of food on the cart. 

Now the scent of food is very strong, so I know we are in the right place.


	9. Making a discovery

Chapter 9

Shadow:

The cart we're riding on starts heading down the hallway straight for those doors. As we approach the doors, the man pushing the cart doesn't stop. He doesn't even slow down. I'm sure we're about to crash and brace for the impact. Alley looks like she's having a grand old time riding on this thing. But just as the cart reaches the doors, they open on their own.

We enter a huge, brightly lit room. The smell of food is overwhelming here. There are a lot of people here. Most are wearing white clothes with funny hats on their heads. There are several tables in the middle of the room. Each table has some people working at it, except for the last table which has platters and bowls of food on it. The people at the tables seem to be cutting up food or mixing something in bowls or putting food onto platters or into bowls. Along two walls of the room are counters that seem to be on fire! The people here are mixing something in the pots and pans that are sitting on the fire. There are strange cabinets set in the walls that people are putting food into or taking food out of. It's very hot in here as well as noisy. It seems that everyone is talking at the same time. I put my ears down just to lessen the sound assaulting my ears.

The man pushing the cart pushes it against the wall with several other carts. He heads over to the last table with the food on it, and starts picking up platters. Alley and I quickly get off the cart so as not to be seen and hide underneath. 

I quickly look around to see if I can see the demon rat. And there it is! It's in a corner on the far side of the room! I quickly get Alley's attention, and point out the rat. Alley takes off like a shot. I follow right behind her. With all the commotion going on, no one notices us.

As soon as Alley reaches the rat, she puffs up and starts hissing and scratching the thing. Gathering all of my courage, I follow her lead. The rat starts to try and fight back, but there are two of us and only one of it. It turns tails (it seems to have two now) and heads for a little hole at the base of the wall. The hole is way too small for it to get through. Just when I think we've got it cornered, something happens that I never expected to happen. The edges of the rat become soft and blurry and it starts to change. It's like the rat has turned into water. Then all of a sudden, it pours itself through the little hole and it is gone.

Alley and I just stare at the hole, not sure what to do next.

"HEY! WHO LET THESE CATS IN HERE!?"

Alley and I both jump. There's a big, fat man with blood stains down the front of his white shirt staring at us. He's holding a really big knife in one hand. We both bolt for the door. Luckily, it opens just as we get there. We run down the hall and into the little room at the end, just as the wall slides shut again. As we stand there panting, the floor starts moving upward again. We quickly scoot over by the wall near where we know it will open again. Sure enough, shortly after the floor stops moving, the wall opens again. We hurriedly get out of the little room as a couple of people come in. They're to busy talking to notice us.

We are now in a carpeted hallway with several doors down each wall. Most of the doors are open. There are people working behind desks in almost every room. As we come to near the end of the hallway, we can hear Manning's voice coming from behind a door that isn't quite shut all of the way.

"Is there something you wanted to tell me, Abe?" we hear.

Alley nudges the door open a little more and slips into the room with me right on her tail. We quickly hide under the desk. There's a large leather chair behind the desk that Manning is sitting in. There are a couple of smaller chairs covered in fabric in front of the desk. Abe is sitting in one of these. From under the desk, all I can see is the bottom of several pieces of furniture that seem to be made of metal and have several drawers in them.

"Yes, Dr. Manning, there is," says Abe. He's wearing his funny glasses, black shirt and collar again. He seems to have gotten a new pair of gloves. "I've done more research on the original demon."

"Well, what is it?" asks Manning impatiently.

"It seems the demon is a polymorph," answers Abe. "This means that it can change shape at will."

"I know what it means," says Manning testily. "Are you telling me that there's a demon rat running loose that can change its shape?"

"Yes."

"Great, now I have to worry about a rat the can become different things. I wouldn't be surprised if it's now pretending to be one of Hellboy's stupid cats!" rants Manning. "ACHOO!"

"Bless you. Actually, I don't think that's possible," says Abe. "I believe that it requires a certain amount of intelligence and the ability to concentrate to hold the form. Chances are that the rat is simply using the ability to squeeze through smaller openings. This would explain why we haven't been able to find It."

"ACHOO!" 

"Bless you."

We can hear Manning rummaging around his desk.

"Why is it that I'm always out of tissue?" grumbles Manning. He stands up and heads for the door. "Thank you for your report, Abe. Please don't be here when I get back. You must have brought some cat fur in with you."

We watch Manning's feet disappear around the corner. We can hear him give another sneeze as he walks down the hall.

All of a sudden Abe is looking at us up-side-down.

"Ok, you two, you can come out now," he says with what appears to be a smile on his face.

I quickly come out and jump into his lap. Alley is only a moment behind me. He chuckles and then picks us up, one in each hand. He leaves the office and heads in the opposite direction that Manning went. He heads for the little room at the end of the call. The wall has closed again. He pushes a button on the wall that I hadn't noticed before. A few moments later, the wall moves out of the way again, and Abe walks into the room. Once in the room, he turns around and pushes another button on the wall next to the opening. As the door shuts, He holds us up to eye level. The floor feels like it's going down now. 

"I'm not sure how you two got into Manning's office," he says, looking very amused, "but I'm sure it's quite the tale."

I'm to busy staring at his collar to really notice what he's saying. There are windows on this thing, and there seem to be bubbles floating past them. I try to catch one, but it gets away. I chase it with my paws. I just can't seem to catch it. I look over and see Alley is doing the same, and having as much luck as I am.

The room stops moving and the wall opens' up again. Abe brings us back down, and walks out of the room. He walks down several hallways until he comes to a room with a long table in it. It has chairs all up and down the sides. Hellboy, Liz and Myers are searching under the furniture.

"Look what I found, Hellboy," says Abe.

"Please tell me you caught that rat," says Hellboy as he turns around. He sees us and his eyes get really wide. "Hey! How did you two get out?"

"I found them in Manning's office," says Abe as he hands us to Hellboy.

"You sneaky little devils," Hellboy says to us, laughing. "How did you manage that one?"

"If Manning finds out that they were in there, he'll hit the roof," says Myers as he comes over to us. 

"Here, Myers, take them back to my room," says Hellboy as he hands us off to Myers. "Make sure they don't get out this time."

"What are we? Luggage?" I meow at Red.

"I don't think the kittens really like me," says Myers, holding us at arms length.

Liz comes over and gently takes us and says, "Here, I'll take them."

She smiles at us and leaves the room. After countless turns and hallways, we're back at the big door to Hellboy's room. Liz goes in and puts us next to the food bowls and leaves, carefully shutting the door behind her. I quickly start eating.

"What are you doing?" asks Alley. "We still need to catch that rat."

"Unless that rat comes in here," I say between mouthfuls, "we're not going to be able to do much. Liz shut us in. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to eat my lunch. Then I'm going to curl up with my glove and take a nap."

And that's just what I do.


	10. Alley's special Moment

Chapter 10

Alley:

_'I am stuck in this room again, and all Shadow wants to do now is take a nap!_ I think as I start to yawn. Ok, Ok, so I'm tired too, and my wounds are starting to get sore from all the running around. So I start eating and when I'm done I snuggle next to my glove and fall asleep, too.

I wake up to the sound of Hellboy and Liz coming in, both looking very tired. I look over at my sister, who is still asleep, curled up with her glove. Next I look up at HB; he's now on his bed with Liz by his side. I go over and hop onto the bed, right between them. Liz looks surprised to see me, and then relaxes.

"I'm surprised to see your still here, you little escape artist," Liz says picking me up and scratching my ears.

"Yeah, I have no idea how they did it. But I have a feeling it was this one's idea to get out. She's the wild one," says Hellboy as I jump on his chest. It's amazing how warm he is.

"Well, she takes after you then, doesn't she?" says Liz giggling.

"You better believe it," says Hellboy as I meow in agreement.

Then my bandages start itching and I start to scratch, but it's starting to hurt.

"Ouch!" I yelp.

"I think we should change her bandages, and give her a bath, HB. She's starting to bleed," Liz says, looking at me in concern.

"Ok, come on Alley, lets gets give you a bath, and get your bandages changed," Hellboy says. He picks me up and carries me into the bath room quietly, so as not to wake anyone up. Liz is right behind him.

He puts me on the counter next to the small basin. Then he starts filling the big one up with water. He carefully unwraps my bandages, and looks closely at my wounds. There's a big scratch along my side, and 3 gashes across my back that, thankfully, are not to deep.

He then puts me carefully into the warm water. This time I don't feel like splashing HB. My wounds sting to much. He gently rubs the soap into my fur and rinses me off. He then hands me to Liz who has a warm towel waiting for me. Once I'm dry, Liz hands me back to Hellboy. He put some creamy stuff from a tube onto my fresh bandages, and puts them on me. It stings at first, but I don't say a thing. Once I am all done, I look up at Hellboy and purr loudly at him. He just smiles at me. Next he lays me in the basket next to my sister. I curl up next to her and fall asleep once more.

I wake up feeling much better then I had before. I am starting to like those kinds of baths. Hellboy and Liz are gone. My sister is already awake and is waiting for me to join her for breakfast. As we are eating, the wheels in my head start turning as I try to make up another plan of escape. Once we are done eating I start to explore the very large room for a way out. After a while of looking around, I find a vent that we can fit through. As an added bonus, the grate covering it is loose.


	11. Convincing Shadow

Chapter 11

Shadow:

I'm having a great time playing with my glove when Alley comes running up to me.

"Hey, Sis," I say. "Where have you been?" 

"Come on, Shadow," she says excitedly. "I've found another way out!"

I stop playing and stare at her. 

"You're joking, right?" I ask. "Please tell me you're joking."

"No, I'm not joking," she says as she comes around me and starts nudging me toward a very dark corner of the room. "Will you just come on?"

"Sis," I say, "why would you want to go back out there again?"

"Because the rat's still out there," she growls, pushing harder.

"That sounds like a very good reason to stay in here," I reply. "In case you missed it, Alley, that thing can change its shape. How are we supposed to be able to catch it if it can slip through any little crack it wants to?"

"I don't know," she answers. "We'll think of something."

"Well, when you do think of something, let me know," I tell her as I quickly moving out of her way. She stumbles a couple of steps before regaining her balance. She turns to me, her ears are back and her hackles are raised.

_Uh oh,_ I think.

She pounces before I can blink. I barely manage to get out of her way before she comes at me again. I start running with her right on my tail. We tear through the room making the other cats jump out of our way.

"Hey!"

"Watch it!"

"I'm sleepin' here!"

Finally, she corners me near a vent with a loose grate. I look at it doubtfully. 

"Alley, are you sure this leads somewhere?" I ask, panting. My sides are hurting.

"No, but it's the best thing I could find," she pants backs.

"But what if..." 

"Will you please stop being a kill joy and just get in there?" she hisses.

I really don't want to go out there, but I don't want to be chased any more either. I sigh and push the grate out of the way. I step into a tube that's barely big enough for me to stand or turn around in.

"Just for the record, Alley," I say, my voice echoing off of the walls, "I think this is a really bad idea."

"Yeah, yeah," she says. "Will you hurry it up? I want to get out of here today."

I sigh, and then I sneeze. It's really dusty in here. We spend who knows how long wandering around in these tubes. Every time we come to another grate, it's shut tight. So we turn around and try another way. Finally we come to a grate that's loose enough for us to squeeze through. After shaking the dust off of my coat, I look around. We're in the library again. I look over at Abe's tank, and there is Abe still swimming in his tank.


	12. Stake out!

Chapter 12

Shadow:

I quickly crouch down in the shadows with Alley next to me. I watch as Abe slowly swims back and forth. He doesn't seem to be paying attention to what's happening in the library. It almost looks like he's pacing. I carefully creep out of hiding, staying as low as possible. Alley is right on my tail. I start heading for the stairs. I am going as quietly as I can.

_When did this room get so long?_ I wonder.

After what seems to be an eternity, we make it to the base of the stairs, and we quickly run up them. 

"Hello? Is someone there?" we hear Abe ask below us.

We quickly run past the door that we know leads to the top of Abe's tank. We make it to the end of the hall. Luckily, there's a door left ajar. We quickly slip in and hide. After a very long time with no sign of Abe, we slowly crawl out from our hiding space. The room we're in is lined in green tile on the floors and walls. There's a long narrow table made of metal in the center of the room. There is a counter with cabinets and drawers underneath all along the walls, all made of metal. The room smells of cleaning chemicals and it makes my nose itch. It's also very cold in here. This place gives me the creeps.

"Ok, genius," I hiss at Alley, "now what?" 

"Now we find the rat," she answers quietly. Even though we're trying to keep our voices down, they still seem to echo off the tile.

"And how do you suggest we do that?" I ask her. "The rat's not just going to appear because we want it too." 

"How about we go into the kitchen again?" she asks, her ears perking up.

"No thanks," I say. "Remember the guy with the knife? Besides, how would we get there? If we go through the library again, Abe will be sure to catch us."

She sits there thinking a while, occasionally scratching at her bandages. I start to think about the times we've seen the rat. It was probably in the kitchen for food. But rats need water, too.

"Abe's tank," I say.

"What?" she asks.

"The only other place we've seen that rat has been the top of Abe's tank," I tell her. "I bet it goes in there to get water."

She stares at me for a bit.

"You're right," she finally concedes. She starts heading for the door, "Let's go." 

"Wait," I say, stopping her. "What if Abe comes out of the water or something?"

"We'll just be extra careful," she says as she peeks out the door to see if the coast is clear. 

"Did mom drop you when you were younger?" I growl at her. 

She just glares at me, and then she slips through the door. 

"I still think this is a really bad idea," I grumble as I follow her out the door.

Luckily, no one is in the hallway. We quickly sneak back down the hall to the first door. We quietly slip into the room. Alley heads for the far side of the tank. I follow, glancing at the water, hoping that Abe doesn't notice us up here. Alley quickly finds the crack that the rat has been using to get in and out of the room. I point out a dark shadow we can hide in until it shows up. We take up our station, and wait.


	13. The Final Battle!

Chapter 13

Alley:

While we are waiting, I make up a plan of attack. Because there are two of us and one of him, we can use that to our advantage, and herd him to where we want him to go.

After waiting what seems like hours, I finally hear something. It sounds like scratching noises. This is it, the moment we've been waiting for! I tense up like I've never tensed up before. I crouch down in my pounce position, so does my sister. Then finally we see it, just as ugly as ever.

"Wait for it, wait for it..." I hiss to my sister, getting my legs ready.

"GO!!!" I screech, as he turns his head to take a drink of water.

The very startled rat turns to go through the small crack in the wall he came from, but Shadow gets there first and blocks his exit. Seeing me coming fast and his exit blocked, the rat starts running for the stair case, with us right on his ugly tails. He runs down the stair case and searches for another crack. Thankfully, he doesn't find any, and he runs for the door to the hallway that was left open, us still not far behind him.

He reaches the hallway, and runs down it. As he tries to take a right down another hallway, my sister comes up beside him teeth bared, forcing him to keep going forward.

We're almost too where we want him, but I'm starting to get winded and my wounds hurt. I can see Shadow is getting tired as well. Just then we see Hellboy right in the middle of the hallway. Not wanting to slow down, we go right through his legs. I hear him say, "Ah Crap!"

I look behind me and see Hellboy following us with his big gun that he used before, drawn. Finally, we get to the last turn in the hallway. Now we are in front of a door that's cracked slightly, we start growling and hissing and spiting to get the rat to go inside.

When he finally does go in, we follow. At this point Hellboy and a few others are not far behind us. Now we've got him! We've chased him into a room that has smooth walls with no cracks. The only furniture is a desk with funny looking TV on it and a chair.

The door automatically closes and locks behind us. Now we were alone with a demon rat that is twice as big as us. That's ok with me, as long as I have my sister with me, I can do anything.

"Remember no biting, Shadow. Oh and don't worry, I've got your back," I say, winking at her.

"Yeah, I know, and I've got yours too," she says, getting ready.

And so, the battle begins. I start off by pouncing at it full force claws extended to their fullest, hissing and screeching my battle cry, Shadow doing the same. I land on his head and start scratching at his eyes with my claws. He starts thrashing around, but I hold tight to his head. Shadow takes my lead, and starts attacking his back with her sharp claws. As he is thrashing his head, he is also attacking me. He finally manages to get me off his head and throws me against the wall. The pain is terrible, but pain means I'm still alive. Shadow is still on his back, but is just barely hanging on with her claws sunk deep into its hide. Barely able to stand, I jump back up finally able to see a weakness. I've only got one shot at it, though. I take a step back, readying myself. Then as Shadow holds onto the floor with her hind claws, and the rat with her fore claws, I see my opening.

I run as fast I can head first into the creature's weak spot on its neck. The force of my blow snaps its neck in half, finally killing it. Once it is dead, Shadow retraces her claws and runs over to where I am laying on the floor, to see if I am all right. She is covered in blood and so am I, but we are both too tired to care.

At that moment Hellboy finally manages to get the door open. He runs in with his gun ready. He looks around and finally notices us and our prize.

"Well, I'll be a big monkey's uncle," Hellboy exclaims, looking at us and then at the dead demon rat.

"Perfect timing," I say sarcastically, looking at him.

Then the pain returns and I screech in pain. Hellboy then notices that I'm hurt, and picks both Shadow and me up gently in his hand.

"Well, we did it," Shadow says looking at me concerned but happy.

"Ah, but now what do we do for fun around here?" I say weakly.

Finally, I pass out, content.


	14. Epologeloose ends

Epilogue

Shadow:

I am playing a rousing game of wrapper soccer, and Alley is lying down in the basket, resting. When the big metal door opens, we join the other cats in greeting Hellboy, Liz, Abe, and Myers. Alley climbs right up Hellboy's pant leg until she reaches his belt. I wrap myself around Abe's ankles. Hellboy plucks Alley off his hip as Abe picks me up before I can trip him. I immediately start trying to catch those bubbles floating past those little windows in Abe's collar.

"I'm glad you two didn't manage to sneak into the truck with us," says HB sighing as he scratches Alley's ears. "That was one bizarre case."

"It was very unusual," says Abe as he watches me in amusement.

"Yeah," says Myers. "Just what did that guy think he was doing?"

"The same thing every nut case tries to do," says Liz. "He decides he needs to make a point or something, and doesn't care who gets hurt in the process. In this case it looks like he was looking for revenge on a former employer."

"I still can't believe that idiot would try to make a pack of demon dogs to do his bidding," says Myers. "How was he planning on controlling them? For that matter, how did he even get hold of that particular demon's body?"

"He summoned the demon and then killed it before it could kill him," answers Abe, sitting at the table. I climb up onto his shoulder trying to get a better position on those little windows.

"Ok, Blue," says Hellboy as he sits on the edge of the bed, "how come the dogs didn't change shape like that rat did?"

"I was wondering that myself," Liz says as she sits down next to him and starts petting Alley too.

"It depends on how much was eaten," replies Abe, keeping his hand close to me so I don't fall. "The more that is eaten, the more aspects of the demon are taken on."

"So let me get this straight," says Myers, he's still standing by the door. "This guy decides he wants to get back at his ex-boss for firing him. He gets a bunch of dogs from wherever. He then summons a demon, kills it, and then starts feeding it to these dogs, making sure not to give them too much so they can't change shape. That guy was seriously disturbed."

"He probably was," says HB. "To bad for him the dogs turned on him."

"It's a good thing that we got there when we did. They had almost broken out of the compound," says Abe.

"It's still hard to believe that the one you killed the other day was the smallest one," says Myers to Hellboy.

"That's why it got out," says Abe. "It was small enough to squeeze through a hole under the fence; the others were much too big. Though, they were making good progress in enlarging the hole when we got there."

"It's too bad all those dogs had to be destroyed," says Myers.

"There was no other choice," says Abe. "Once they were transformed, they couldn't be changed back."

"Yeah, I know," says Myers. "Well, I'm sure your dinner is ready, Red, so I'll just go and get it now."

As Myers leaves, Abe takes me off his shoulder, gets up and hands me to HB.

"I think I'll head back to my tank now," he says. "I have some reading to catch up on."

Once Abe is gone, Hellboy turns to Liz and says, "How about a movie?"

"Sounds good," she replies. "Which one?"

"How about 'City Lights?'" he asks as he puts Alley and me back in our basket.

"Ok," answers Liz as she settles back on the bed.

As Hellboy rummages around in a cabinet for the movie, Alley and I jump back on the bed and settle down next to Liz. Liz chuckles and starts petting us. HB finds what he's looking for and puts it into some machine. He comes back to the bed and stops short.

"Hey, you two," he says laughing. "Stop hogging the girlfriend."

We just look at him and purr. He laughs again and lies down next to Liz. They cuddle together as we cuddle up to him. He is really warm. He pushes a button on a funny little plastic box that has buttons all down one side. One of the TVs comes to life and start showing words and pictures. There's music but no one speaks and the pictures don't have any color to them. I fall asleep to images of a funny little man with a mustache and a cane. I've never been happier in all of my little life.

The End


End file.
